Bill O'Reilly: The war on Christmas centralizes

Well, over the years we've taken on the role of protecting the federal holiday of Christmas. As you know, there are some Americans who are offended by any reference to Jesus Christ and that's what the USA celebrates on December 25th, the birth of the baby Jesus. President Grant signed the holiday into law after Congress passed legislation in 1870 acknowledging the country's Judeo-Christian tradition.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

And so Americans officially got the day off from work. Everything was swell up until about ten years ago when creeping secularism and pressure groups like the ACLU began attacking the Christmas holiday. They demanded, demanded the word "Christmas" be removed from advertising and public displays and many people caved in to that. So now we have the happy holiday syndrome.

What is interesting this year is that Hanukkah will be over on Thursday. So there are no more holidays between then and Christmas Day it's just Christmas if you want to invoke happy. Bad news for the secular progressives.

The absurdity of the situation was brilliantly parodied today in the Mallard Fillmore cartoon strip by our pal Bruce Tinsley. The following Christmas special actually mentions Christianity. Viewer discretion is advised.

And then there is Macy's, a company that I generally like because it supports Wounded Warriors. But this year they're touting Santa Claus who will help you, quote, "With your holiday wish list."

So here is my question to Macy's. What holiday is Santa celebrating? Winter solstice, the birthday of a reindeer -- what? On the national front, there are three primary culprits seeking to diminish Christmas, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association. The most aggressive is the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which routinely threatens to sue small towns and school districts if they dare utter the word "Christmas" or allow choirs to sing carols in public schools.

The irony is that nobody is bothering the atheists. They are free to celebrate whatever they want to celebrate. They are free not to believe and they are free to snicker at anybody who does believe. That's not good enough for these people. They want to banish any mention of Jesus in the public square. They are the oppressors.

The Christmas spirit people are just upholding a nice tradition. So why are we allowing anti-Christmas madness? The poll last year showed 47 percent of Americans believe there is a war on Christmas; 40 percent do not; 13 percent are confused.

So once again this year, I will keep an eye on the situation. Helping me is the Alliance Defending Freedom Organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona. They have been very successful in defending traditional rights in the courts. Therefore I say to them God bless you, each and every one, with apologies to Dickens.